In semiconductor diodes and semiconductor switching devices with integrated body diodes like IGFETs (insulated gate field effect transistors) as well as RC-IGBTs (reverse conducting insulated gate bipolar transistors) mobile charge carriers flood the semiconductor regions on both sides of the forward biased pn junction and may form a charge carrier plasma that provides a low forward resistance of the semiconductor diode or body diode but that has to be removed in a reverse recovery period when the pn junction changes from forward biased to reverse biased. The reverse recovery process contributes to the dynamic switching losses of the semiconductor device. A desaturation cycle may attenuate the charge carrier plasma before switching the pn junction from forward biased to reverse biased to reduce the dynamic switching losses. It is desirable to provide semiconductor devices with improved switching characteristics.